By Daniel Wiessner
(Reuters) – Walmart has been accused by a U.S. labor agency of using a series of illegal tactics to deter unionizing at a California store.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said it had issued a complaint late Wednesday alleging Walmart interrogated workers at the Eureka, California, store about their union activities, removed pro-union flyers from a break room and threatened employees who distributed union literature in violation of U.S. labor law.
Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters could not immediately obtain a copy of the complaint.
Unless Walmart settles the claims, an administrative judge will hold a hearing in the case in May. The judge’s decision can be appealed to agency’s five-member board and then to a federal appeals court.
None of Walmart’s roughly 4,700 U.S. stores have unionized despite decades of attempts by labor unions. The retail giant is currently facing at least 21 other NLRB complaints from workers or unions alleging labor law violations, such as threatening and interrogating workers and unevenly enforcing workplace rules against union supporters.
The NLRB has found merit to the claims and started proceedings in four of the cases thus far. Walmart has denied wrongdoing.
(Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in Albany, New York, Editing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Aurora Ellis)
